Walking in a Winter Wonderland
by fadingdreams
Summary: ZukoxKatara. When Katara can't sleep, she takes a walk to relax, and unexpectedly runs into Zuko...


**A/N**: 8/12/09 - Revised!

My first attempt at writing fan fiction, so please be nice! I decided to try a Price Zuko/Katara one-shot. Start small and work my way up I guess.

Disclaimer: Sadly…I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. If I did, I would be rich and living in luxury, but sadly, I am not.

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"Dad!"

Katara shot up. Sweat was dripping down her face. It had been five years since her father left and she still hadn't heard from him. Lately, all Katara ever dreamed about was her father fighting in the war. She missed her father, and her dreams were definitely not helping. Katara looked around to make sure that she didn't wake Sokka or Aang. After she made sure they were both sound asleep, Katara decided to take a walk to help ease her troubled mind. She quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag and made her way into the forest that surrounded their small campsite.

They were closer to the North Pole now, so the weather was getting colder. Snow and icicles hung from the dormant trees making them look mystical. With the full moon shining in the clear night sky, the moonbeams only added to the mystical affect the forest had. Katara was mesmerized by the beauty of the forest and forgot all about the nightmare that had awakened her just a few minutes before. She walked around a snow-covered tree and was shocked to see someone else in the woods. She quickly retreated behind the tree and glanced around the trunk to make sure the intruder on her midnight stroll did not see her. Katara quickly recognized her intruder and started mumbling to herself.

'_Come on! Of all people! Why him! Why me!'_

Katara tried to creep away slowly, but it was too late. She could hear Zuko's footsteps coming closer to her hiding spot.

"Well, well, well. Just can't seem to keep away from me, can we."

"Zuko." Katara growled his name as she glared at him. She hated the smirk he had on his face. He was waltzing around the forest like he owned the place and it made her want to smack the grin right off his face with a water whip.

"What are you doing here?" Katara was in no mood to play his any of his games tonight.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Resting my crew, repairing my ship… tracking down the Avatar." Zuko crossed his arms and kept his smirk on his face. He slowly advanced toward Katara until her back was against the tree.

Katara glared right back at him and went into a fighting stance. "Your tracking ends here."

He took a few steps forward, but stopped when he saw that she formed a floating ball of water. Zuko knew better than to agitate a water bender when the moon was full. He admitted to himself that she had spirit for not running away from him.

Katara continued to glare at Zuko, hoping to intimidate him. She knew Zuko was good, but with the full moon on her side it would be a fair fight. This caused Katara to smirk back at Zuko and take a step forward, just waiting for him to try anything.

Surprisingly, the smirk disappeared from his face, and rather quickly at that. He actually looked surprised. Katara was confused at first, but then saw that Zuko was not looking at her, but looking behind her. She turned her head to see what he was looking at. A grizzly bear roared in anger as it approached Katara.

Zuko took a step forward and stretched out his hand to Katara, trying to warn her before the bear got too close. "Look out!"

Before Katara could react, the bear stood on its hind legs and swung it's paw at Katara. Zuko could only hear a small gasp escape her lips before she hit her head against the trunk of the tree behind her and fall to the snow covered ground unconscious.

He looked at Katara to make sure she was still breathing, and after deciding she only had a scratched arm from the bear's claw, he went into a fighting stance and encased his fists with fire. The bear was starting to advance near Katara, but Zuko made sure the bear did not get any closer by throwing a ball of flame at the feet of the bear. The flame did not hit the bear, but it did make the bear more agitated than before.

'_Good going Zuko!__ You could have just had your men search the island for the Avatar and let the bear have his meal in peace, but no! You had to be all noble and save the attractive waterbender. Grrr… Stupid hormones!__'_

The bear roared again and then started to advance toward Zuko. He decided to play it safe and lead the bear away from Katara. He shot a fireball at the bear's feet, but the bear didn't stop. He shot another fireball but the bear still did not stop. The bear kept advancing until Zuko had his back against a tree with the bear right in front of him. The bear swatted its paws at Zuko, and he felt a small shock of pain below his eye before he shot another fireball. It hit the bear in the stomach, causing the bear to growl in pain and run away before Zuko could attack again.

Satisfied with his victory, Zuko then turned to where Katara's body still lay. He bent over her limp form and examined her scratched arm. She also had a few scratches on her face and she was extremely cold, but luckily she didn't have any other injuries. Zuko caught himself examining her injuries and started mumbling to himself.

'_Why do I even care if she's hurt. I mean, she and I have never said a nice word to each other…but there's no use letting her die. The avatar and her dim-witted brother would chase me around the world... That would actually be kind of ironic.'_

He went to move her arm carefully to start bandaging it, but he heard her murmuring something. He looked to see if she was awake, but he saw that her eyes were closed but she looked troubled. He continued to wrap her arm but also listened to see if Katara would mumble anything about where the Avatar was going or what their plans were.

Instead of mumbling secret plans and missions, Katara started shivering from the cold night breeze. By instinct, Zuko took her into his arms to help keep her warm. She whispered again and this time he could hear a few words. It didn't sound like Avatar or any word he was hoping for, but instead it sounded like she mumbled father. Zuko was also socked when he saw a tear trickled down her cheek. He looked at Katara and knew she was having a nightmare, and wondered what could be scaring the courageous and determined waterbender.

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"Katara, take care of your brother while I'm gone, and don't stay up too late. You know how you can get when you don't get enough sleep."

Katara's father smiled and bent down to give her a hug. "Promise you'll stay out of trouble?"

Katara hugged her father tightly, wishing that he didn't have to go. "I promise daddy."

Young Sokka, who was standing next to his younger sister, also gave his dad a hug before his dad stood to board their water tribe's war ship. Most of the young men from their tribe were leaving to help stop the Fire Nation from conquering the rest of the Water Nation.

Tears were rolling down both Sokka's and Katara's faces. Their dad was the only family they had left besides Gran Gran and they were afraid that he would never come back. As the ship started to pull away, Katara started running and tried to catch up with the ship. She ran until she reached the edge of the dock and watched her father's ship fade into the horizon. "I love you daddy! Please come back home!"

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Katara felt someone wrapping her arm in cloth. Suddenly, pain came rushing through her body as her sense of touch was coming back to her. She slowly opened her eyes to see Zuko hovering over her and bandaging her arm instead of a bear that was ready to make a meal out of her.

'_I must be dreaming…Zuko…taking care of me! OUCH! Nope. Definitely not a dream.'_

Zuko saw Katara wince in pain as he continued to wrap her arm up in a piece of his shirt he ripped off.

'_Stupid hormones… making me rip my shirt… wrapping her arm… Grrr…'_

Neither of them spoke until Zuko finished wrapping Katara's arm. When he finished, he sat down and leaned against the tree. He looked over at Katara who was now sitting up and also leaning against the tree. Her arm looked a lot better now that he cleaned it up and wrapped it.

Katara glanced at Zuko and quickly turned her head. She would have gotten up and left, but she was still feeling a bit light headed from the bear knocking her head against the tree. She looked at her arm that Zuko wrapped up and nestled it closer to her body.

'_He fixed my arm. The guy whose father, the Fire Lord, wants to take over the world. I'm surprised… Zuko has a gentle side…'_

Katara knew she would have been bear food if Zuko didn't save her. She slowly turned to Zuko and to a deep breath in and braced herself to say something to him that she never even dreamed she would say.

"Umm… Zuko… I… umm… thankyouforrescuingme."

Zuko turned and looked at Katara in surprise. "What…what did you say?"

Katara thought she would see a smirk on his face, but in fact, his face showed complete surprise. She took another deep breath and looked Zuko in the eyes.

"I said…thank you for rescuing me."

Katara was about to say something sarcastic about how he never listens when she spotted the scratch on Zuko's face. Katara saw it wasn't a very deep wound, but it was bleeding.

"The bear scratched your face! Are you alright?"

Zuko looked at her with a confused expression and touched his face. A sharp pain shot through his cheek. The bear had managed to scratch him after all, and the scratch just so happened to be on his scar.

His scar. A permanent reminder of how he lost his honor and the right the the Fire Nation throne. Zuko looked at the ground, trying not to remember that fateful day. "I'm alright."

Katara saw the change in Zuko's expression and wondered how the guy who was chasing her around the world and seemed to have a one tracked mind on catching the Avatar could have so many emotions. She had only ever seen him angry or serious, but the look in his eyes now showed a hint of sadness. Katara looked at her arm and then back to the scratch on Zuko's face.

'_I have to do something to help him. He just saved me from that bear AND he wrapped my arm. Even if he is my enemy…'_

Katara turned towards Zuko and adjusted her arm so it wouldn't hurt as muc_h._

"Zuko let me help you. I can use my water bending to help heal your cut. I do owe you for saving me from the bear. Let me help…please?"

Zuko stared at her for a little while, but then gave her an exasperated look. "I didn't go through all the trouble of wrapping your arm just so you could make it worse. And besides…there's no water around here."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I already said thank you. Besides I can still use my other arm. And I hate to break it to you, oh Prince of the Fire Nation, but you are wrong. The snow is just a frozen form of water."

Zuko glared at her, but then his expression relaxed and his lips formed into a smirk. "I'm wrong. What a shocker."

Katara smirked back at Zuko. "Of course I do need your help to make the water. You need to melt the snow and then I could use the water to clean your cut."

Sighing in defeat, Zuko nodded his head and turned his body so that he was facing Katara. "But mind you, if you do anything except clean the cut I'll-"

Katara used her good arm and collected a small ball of snow. "Don't worry. I'm not. Just trust me."

Zuko grunted and Katara rolled her eyes at him as she used her waterbending to lift the snowball in the air. Zuko snapped his fingers and a small flame appeared in his hand. He brought the flame close to the snowball until it was completely melted into water and then extinguished the flame. Katara then formed the water into a small stream and moved it towards Zuko's face. He slightly moved his head back, but Katara kept moving the water closer to the cut.

"I'm sorry if it stings a little, but this will help heal the cut."

Zuko braced for pain and thinking this was all a horrible idea, but instead there was a relaxing and soothing feeling were Katara was cleaning the cut.

Katara noticed that Zuko's posture relaxed and his expression lightened while she was cleaning and healing his cut. It took her about a minute to finish healing the wound but after Katara was done, she sat back and smiled. She actually did a better job than she thought she could.

"All done. Do you feel better?"

Zuko looked at her and felt where the cut used to be. Besides a little dry blood, the cut was completely gone. He was amazed at how much her waterbending skills had improved since the first time he saw her.

"Umm…yah, it does. Uhhh…thanks."

Katara's smile widened. "No problem."

The sun began to rise and Katara decided it was time to head back to camp. "It's been fun, but I do believe we have to come back to reality."

Zuko looked up and sighed. "You know, this isn't going to change anything. We're still enemies."

Zuko looked into Katara's eyes and saw sadness. She got up and started to walk away when she heard Zuko speak.

"Katara, when you were unconscious, you were talking about your father… I just wanted to let you know that I understand the pain of missing a parent. My mother has been dead for a long time now, but I still dream about her… I guess this war has affected everyone, including the Fire Lord and his family."

Katara turned and looked into Zuko's eyes. Even if he was chasing them around the world, he was still haunted by being banished from his country by his own father and also losing his mother. Katara would never wish that kind of pain on anyone, not even the guy who was out to capture the Avatar. Everyone deserves to have his or her parents and be loved by them.

'_His eyes…They're so full of understanding and sadness. Wait… What am I thinking? Am I…no.'_

Katara gave Zuko a smile before she turned away and walked back into the forest.

Zuko sighed and stood up to return to his ship. He couldn't believe that Katara actually smiled at him. After all the fighting and the chasing, she smiled at him. Zuko was thinking about what just happened when he stopped at a stream for a drink. When he looked down into the stream, he was amazed. Zuko was looking at his face. Not only was the cut healed, but also a part of his scar was gone as well. It was not completely gone, but he could tell that some was healed. Zuko touched his now smaller scar and couldn't help but smile. Katara not only healed a part of his scar, but also a part of his heart tonight.

_'I would have never guessed that I would fall for a Water Bender…Stupid hormones…'_

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So…what did you think? I would loves some reviews. Sorry if the characters may have been a little OOC in the fic. I'm allowed to make mistakes…It's only my first fanfic. :p. Please don't flame me and thanks for reading!


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